Women's Track & Field

Track and Field Makes Short Trip to Northern Virginia for Mason Spring Invitational on Saturday

Apr 11, 2014

BALTIMORE – A week after splitting up to compete at meets in Gainesville, Fla. and Williamsburg, Va., the UMBC track and field team makes the short trip to Northern Virginia to compete in the Mason Spring Invitational on Saturday in Fairfax, Va. The meet at George Mason Stadium is scheduled to begin on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. with the women's hammer throw.

Competing at the Pepsi Florida Relays and the Colonial Relays a week ago, the Retriever track and field team turned in record-breaking performances to continue the spring season. Senior Trae Proctor (Brandywine, Md./Thomas Stone) led the way for the Black and Gold, breaking his own school record in the 110m hurdles with a career-best time of 14.05. He was named the America East Male Track Performer of the Week on Tuesday. Proctor leads the conference at this point in the season while ranking 32nd in the nation. He will compete in the 110m and 400m hurdles this weekend at George Mason.

Senior Dennison Long (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/FIU) also turned in a career-best performance last weekend, recording a time of 10.36 in the 100m dash. The sprinter leads the conference in both the 100m and 200m (21.09) events while sitting 26th and 44th, respectively, in the nation. Long will compete in both events in Fairfax while also running the 4x400m relay for the Retrievers.

In the field events, sophomore Vincent Rentzsch (Oranienburg, Germany/Elite Sportschule Potsdam) earned his second America East Male Field Performer of the Week award on Tuesday after garnering a top-ten finish in the javelin in Florida. Rentzsch recorded a toss of 63.38m (207'11") last weekend, just off of his season-best of 66.09m (216'10). The versatile athlete leads the conference and ranks 35th in the NCAA, and will branch out to compete in the long jump, shot put, and 200m dash, in addition to the javelin, at Mason.

Senior Yao Adantor (Laurel, Md./Reservoir/Morgan State/Maryland) and junior Thor Serafenas (Olney, Md./Good Counsel/Clemson), meanwhile, rank second in the conference in the shot put and hammer throw, respectively. Both athletes will compete in the shot put, discus, and hammer this weekend.

NCAA Indoor Championships participant Andrew Smith (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley) continues his outdoor season and will run the 800m for this first time this spring at George Mason.

For the women, junior Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) looks to lower her times even further in an attempt to reach her second consecutive NCAA outdoor meet, and third overall, in her career. She has met the ECAC standard for both short sprint events already this season and will run in both the 100m (11.71) and 200m dash (24.38) events this weekend.

Senior Cody Mezebish (Westminster, Md./South Carroll) and junior Sarah Daly (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) both set career-bests last week at the Colonial Relays in the 1,500m, but will shorten their runs this weekend to race in the 800m. Mezebish broke the school record in the indoor 800m during her silver medal-winning run at the America East Indoor Championships in February. She later clipped it further at the ECAC Championships.

Junior Paulette Fogle (Washington, D.C./Bishop McNamara) set a season-best time of 1:01.59 in the 400m hurdles last week in the Sunshine State to jump to third in the conference rankings. She will compete in both the 100m and 400m hurdle events at George Mason and is also scheduled to run the 4x400m relay.

In the field events, junior Alisha Beeman (Bridgeport, Conn./Bunnell/Hartford) looks to claim her second UMBC outdoor record, and fourth overall, as she competes in the high jump. She claimed the indoor record earlier this year and set it to 1.74m (5'8.5") at the conference meet. Beeman cleared 1.68m (5'6") at the FSU Relays to open the outdoor season to rank second in the Retriever record book as well as in the America East standing. At Mason, she will also compete in the triple jump and javelin, the event in which she took over the school record (41.92m; 137'6") back in March.